


l6^l| 



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"THGWlNTGR'STALe 



As Given B^v ^ 



oF cKlew ^rk. 



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Copyrighted, 1891, by 

Hannibal A. William 

98 Lexington Avenue, 

New York. 



"Apprehend nothing but jollit}'." — The IVinter^s Tale — Act IV, Scene IV 



y^R. ^Hannibal CJ. WhjIjiams. 



OF NEW YORK, 



He was provided to do us good." — The W inter's Tale — Act IV, Scene IV. 



IN A RECITAL OF 



:^^ APR '-'X 



SHAKESPEARE'S COMEDY. V . ir''^ 

\ rasf , 

THE WINTER'S TALE." -^ 



If it be not too rough, it will please plentifully." — Thf IVritier's Tale — Act IV,SciHt /.''. 



DRAMATIS PERSON.^. 



i^" 



^^;> 



Leontes, . 
Mamillius, 
Camillo, ^ 
Antigonus, > 
Cleomenes, r 
Dion, j 

polixenes, 
Florizel, 
Old Siiephkri 
Clown, 
autolycus, 
Hermione, 
Perdita, . 
Paulina, . 
Emilia, 

MOKSA, 
DOKC 



:as, J 



King of Sicilia. 
Voung Prince of Sicilia. 

Four Lords of Sicilia. 



Scef/f — Sometimes in Sicil 



. King of liohemia. 

I'rince of l^ohemia. 

Reputed father of Perdita. 

Mis Son. 

A Rogue. 

Queen to Leontes. 

Daughter to Leontes and Hermione. 

Wife to Antigonus. 

A lady attending on Hermione. 

Sheplierdesses. 



iietinic ■ ill Doliemra. 
TIME OF ACTION, ABOUT SIXTEEN YEARS. 

medies, having 3,^09 lines; and, in 



Note. — " The Winter's Tale " is the longest t>f all of Shakespear 
respect to length, the eighth in Shakespeare's works of every class. 



— 4 — 



'■ Pray yoii, 

* ** tell us a tale." 
" Come on and do your best." — The W inter'' s Tale — Act II, Scene I. 

P1ROG1R AM M E : 

" Tlie storm begins." — The Winter'' s Tale — Act III, Scene III. 

Synopsis — Act I. — The Suspicion. 

King Folixenes comments upon the length of his visit to King Leontes, and pro- 
poses to return liome to Bohemia at once. Leontes urges him to remain longer, 
but to no avail. Leontes begs the queen to aid in persuading Polixenes to prolong 
his visit. Hermione supplements her husband's pleading. Polixenes consents to 
remain. (Note. — Polixenes' yielding to the queen's entreaties, after having 
refused the king's invitation, causes Leontes to question Polixenes' motive, and all 
the queen's subsequent attentions to her honored guest are misinterpreted.) 
Leontes seized with a jealousy resembling madness. Mamillius welcomed and 
summarily dismissed. Leontes charges Camillo with a wicked knowledge of the 
queen's perfidy. He extorts a promise from Camillo to poison Polixenes. 
Camillo unwittingly discloses to Polixenes the cause of Leontes' strange demeanor. 
Polixenes alarmed. He hastens from the court with Camillo for guide and 
speedily returns to Bohemia. 

'■ You'll know more."' — The lVinter''s Tale — Act IV, Scene IV'. 

5 




— 6 



"< : ? 



"He's at it now." —The ]Vinter's TaU—Act III, Scene III. 

Synopsis — Act II. — The Accusation. 

Leontes questions his lords as to Polixenes' hasty and unceremonious departure. 
His flight interpreted as a confession of his guilt. Polixenes suspected of 
conspiring with the queen to take Leontes' life. Leontes orders the removal 
of Prince Mamillius from the custody of the queen. Hermione's honor as- 
sailed. She is consigned to prison. The lords of the court severely rated by 
the king for urging the queen's release on the plea of her innocence. Leontes 
sends two messengers to Apollo's temple at Delphos for an oracle touching 
the queen's behavior, confidently believing it will confirm his opinion of her guilt. 
The king retires but cannot sleep. He fancies the queen's death will bring him 
peace of mind. His reverie disturbed. Paulina pushes the guards aside and, 
entering the king's private apartments, presents him with his child, prematurely 
born during the queen's incarceration. Leontes enraged. He disowns the child 
and drives Paulina from the court. The king, now insane with madness, orders 
the burning of the infant and its mother. The king dissuaded from this cruelty 
by the supplication of his counsellors. The infant conveyed by Antigonus to a 
far-off desert shore, and, by the king's command, left there to its own protec- 
tion. Antigonus and the sailors employed in the expedition perish. Return of 
the messengers from Delphos. Leontes orders the convening of the court. 

" Is it true, think vof • — The M'''i7Uer^s Tale — Act IV. Scene IV. 




Reproduced front engravings THE WINTER'S TALE. 

. ./../, «/-/^r M. 5^^^^// Illus- Leontes, Ant.gonus, Lords, Infant, 1 crdUa, Etc. 



Act IL Scene III 



— 8- 



Follow me and mark what way I make."' — The ]Vinter''s Tale — Act I', Scene II, 



Synopsis — Act III. — The Vindication. 

A court of justice. The session opened by tlie king who is instigator, prose- 
cutor and judge. Hermione summoned. The indictment read. The queen 
appears without counsel. Her masterly defense. Hermione appeals to Apollo 
for judgment. Cleomenes and Dion sworn. The oracle produced. The queen 
acquitted. The king censured. The lost infant proclaimed the only heir to the 
throne. The queen in an ecstasy of delight on hearing the verdict. The haughty 
king invokes the wrath of the gods by denouncing their decision. Mamillius' 
death announced. A part of the oracle quickly fulfilled. Hermione swoons 
and is carried out unconscious. The king is informed of her death. Leontes' 
fiendish cruelty begins to dawn upon him. He promises to atone for his mis- 
deeds. Paulina reappears and enumerates his crimes, and presents them in their 
enormity. The infant found and adopted by a kind-hearted shepherd. 



" Resolve you for more amazement." — The lVi)iter''s Tale — Act V^ Scene III. 




Reproduced /ro>n etigravings 
OH steel,a/ter the Boydell Illus- 
trations. 



THE WINTER'S TALE. 

Florizel, Perdita, Polixenes, Camillo, Etc. 

Act IV. ScBNB Til 
-lO — 



" Is there not time to whistle off these secrets 

But you must be tittle-tattling before all our guests ?" 

"Charm your tongues and not a word more." —The Winter's Tale — Act I V^, Scene 1 1\ 

Synopsis — Act IV. — The Separation 

Bohemia. The palace of Polixenes. (Note — An interval of sixteen years 
elapses between the third and fourth acts and the scene is shifted from Leontes' 
court in Sicilia to that of Polixenes in Bohemia.) Camillo begs to return to his 
native country. Polixenes refuses to grant even a leave of absence. King Polix- 
enes hears rumors of his son FlorizePs attachment to a young shepherdess. 
The king anxious to know the truth of the report. The king proposes to visit 
the shepherd and his reputed daughter /;/ cognito accompanied by Camillo. A 
road near the shepherd's cottage. Meeting of AutolyCus andthe clown. A merry 
rogue's trick. The shepherd's cottage. The sheap-shearing festival. The loves 
of Florizel and Perdita revealed. Perdita welcomes the unknown guests. Re- 
appearance of Autolycus as a peddler. The courtship. The king reveals him- 
self. Florizel threatened with the loss of his inheritance. He prefers Perdita's 
love to the succession to the throne. Camillo furnishes the prince with letters 
to the King Leontes and assists him to escape to Sicilia with his bride, and 
thither Camillo shortly afterwards conducts King Polixenes. 

"What I did not well, 1 meant well." — The Winter's Tale — Act V, Scene III. 







mm V 




\W.'.rs'^; 



Reproduced from engravings 
on steel, after the Boydell Illus- 
trations. 



TH?: WINTKR'S TALE. 

Leontes, Polixenes, Florizel, Perdita, Paulina, Etc. 

Act V, Scene III 

— 12 — 



But to make an end." — The W inter's Tale — Acil]', Scetie Hi. 



Synopsis — Act V. — The Reconciliation. 

Sicilia. A room in the palace of Leontes. Paulina and others assure the 
penitent king that his sixteen years of repentance has atoned for his misdeeds. 
Arrival of Florizel and Perdita from Bohemia. Leontes gives the couple a gen- 
erous welcome. The king attracted toward Perdita by something beside her 
singular beauty and sweetness. King Polixenes arrives with Camillo in search 
of Florizel. Arrival of the old shepherd and his son in search of Perdita. The 
shepherd presents unmistakable proofs of his reputed daughter being none other 
than King Leontes' long-lost daughter. The king's joy in recovering his child 
clouded by the remembrance of the supposed death of the queen. A chapel in 
Paulina's house. Paulina receives Perdita, King Leontes and his train. The 
supposed statue of Queen Hermione unveiled. Paulina commands the statue to 
move. The living queen descends from the pedestal and embraces her daughter 
and the king. The oracle fulfilled. 

" I am sorry I have thus far stirred you ; but I could afflict you further." 

— The ir inter's Tale — Act r, Scene III. 

— 13 — 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 

Mr. Hannibal A. Williams was born in Rutland, \'erniont, in 1S34, and is a 
descendant of French and English parentage. He was educated in the common 
schools of his native state, and at Troy Conference Academy, Poultney, Vermont. 
After teaching several years in the graded schools of Fair Haven and West Rutland, 
Vermont, and making a professional tour through New England, he was appointed 
Instructor of Elocution in the Albany (New York) Academy, which position he re- 
signed in 1882 to devote himself entirely to public reading. During the first three 
years of Mr. Williams' professional career, his work consisted of the preparation 
of miscellaneous selections and the giving of over three hundred entertainments in 
towns near Albany. Since 1885 he has resided in New York, 98 Lexington Avenue, 
and each year he has added one of Shakespeare's plays to his repertory. He has 
read 07'er one thousand nii^hts, chiefly in the New England and Middle States. For 
the past two seasons his recitals have been limited strictly to the Shakespearian 
plays, in which field probably no other American reader has achieved so large a 
measure of success in so short a period. 

AR. WILLIA.n^' RnPERTORq 

INCLUDES 
THE TEMPEST. I'llE ]\'L\TER\S TALE. 

THE TAMEXG OE THE SHREW. 

JULIUS C.'ESAR. OTHELLO. 

— 14 — 



* * "Of this allow, 
If ever you have spent time worse ere now, 
If never, that Time himself doth say 
He wishes earnestly you never may." 

— The Winter's Tale — Act 11' , :£ce7ie I . 



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